Livery
An aircraft livery is a set of comprehensive insignia which operators apply to their aircraft, which can be selected in-simulator via the livery selection dialog.
On this page we describe how to add your livery to an aircraft and make it available in multiplayer. For how to make new liveries, see Howto:Edit a livery.
Where to find an aircraft livery
The installed aircraft can be found in $FG_ROOT/data/Aircraft, where $FG_ROOT is where FlightGear is installed. Each aircraft has a directory that contains a few text, 3D model and image files organized in several subdirectories. In that structure is one or more liveries and one or more text files, XML files, describing it's use. The liveries can usually be found in the ../Models, ../Liveries, ../Models/Liveries or some other directory, depending on how the aircraft's author organized the files and directories.
Files to edit
If you want to equip an aircraft with a livery, there are a few files we need to make (or edit), namely:
aircraft/aircraft-set.xmlaircraft/Models/model.xmlaircraft/Nasal/liveries.nas
Where aircraft is the name of the aircraft.
We also have to make a new directory to store our liveries in. Let's make it aircraft/Models/Liveries.
Models/Liveries
For every livery, we need to make a file. For example, if you have made a KLM livery, then you need to make a file called KLM.xml in the Models/Liveries directory. When a particular livery is selected, its XML file is copied to the aircraft's property tree. On the pilot's side this is the base of the property tree (/), and on all remote machines on the MP network it's one of the multiplayer branches in /ai/models/multiplayer[n]. The structure of livery XML files is completely free. There just has to be a property containing a name for the selection dialog, and aircraft.livery.init() must be told which it is. By default it is sim/model/livery/name.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<PropertyList>
<sim>
<model>
<livery>
<name type="string">KLM Royal Dutch Airlines</name>
<texture>Liveries/KLM.png</texture>
</livery>
</model>
</sim>
</PropertyList>
In the example above, the texture files are also stored in the Models/Liveries/ directory of the aircraft; the texture path is relative to the model's xml in which it is used.
Models/model.xml
The first part is related to the nasal script. aircraft.livery_update.new("Aircraft/747/Models/Liveries"); points FlightGear to the directory where we store our liveries. This is a different directory for every plane, but there should be only one folder for one plane, containing all the liveries for that plane.
In order to enable livery changes also for MP (Multi-Player) use, add the following code to your model.xml file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<PropertyList>
<nasal>
<load>
<!--
##############################################################################
# The on-load Nasal is not executed when this file is loaded as the user
# aircraft. The code is only executed if the file is loaded for a remote
# aircraft in Multi-Player mode (MP)
##############################################################################
-->
<![CDATA[
var livery_update = aircraft.livery_update.new("Aircraft/747/Models/Liveries");
]]>
</load>
<unload><![CDATA[
livery_update.stop();
]]></unload>
</nasal>
<!-- ... -->
</PropertyList>
The second part is very important and probably the hardest of all. We need to set which parts of the model should change when you select a new livery. To find the object-names, you could make use of 3D modelling software like Blender or AC3D. The <texture>Liveries/KLM.png</texture> part points FlightGear to the livery that should be shown on startup.
Caution Be sure you don't have a slash (/) in front of sim/model/livery in the <property-base> tag! Otherwise, all planes will get the same livery!
|
<!-- ... -->
<animation>
<type>material</type>
<object-name>Fuselage</object-name>
<object-name>Hstab</object-name>
<object-name>Vstab</object-name>
<property-base>sim/model/livery</property-base>
<texture-prop>texture</texture-prop>
<texture>Liveries/KLM.png</texture>
</animation>
<!-- ... -->
Nasal/liveries.nas
The only thing you might change in the nasal file is the directory of the liveries. If you don't have the livery name in sim/model/livery/name, then you have to add this as second function argument.
aircraft.livery.init("Aircraft/.../Models/Liveries");aircraft-set.xml
The following part is really important. If this is not included, the livery changes will not be visible over MP!
<sim>
<!-- ... -->
<model>
<path>Aircraft/.../Models/model.xml</path>
<livery>
<file type="string"/>
</livery>
</model>
<!-- ... -->
</sim>
If you want the default livery to be something else than the first in the list, replace the file type part with the following, containing the Models/Liveries/....xml file name of the appropriate livery.
<file type="string">KLM</file>
To make a nice button in the menubar we need to add the following code:
<sim>
<!-- ... -->
<menubar>
<default>
<menu n="100">
<label>...</label>
<enabled type="bool">true</enabled>
<item>
<label>Select Livery</label>
<binding>
<command>nasal</command>
<script>aircraft.livery.dialog.open();</script>
</binding>
</item>
</menu>
</default>
</menubar>
<!-- ... -->
</sim>
Multiple texture files per livery
Some models use multiple textures file (e.g., separate files for fuselage and wings). Every texture needs it own property. You can add as many textures as you like.
Nasal/liveries.nas
This is the same as "ordinary" aircraft with just one texture. You will find the content of this file earlier in this article.
Models/Liveries
Instead of just one texture we have to deal with multiple ones now.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<PropertyList>
<sim>
<model>
<livery>
<name type="string">KLM Royal Dutch Airlines</name>
<texture-fuselage>KLM-Livery-fuselage.png</texture-fuselage>
<texture-wings>KLM-Livery-wings.png</texture-wings>
</livery>
</model>
</sim>
</PropertyList>
Models/....xml
<!-- ... -->
<animation>
<type>material</type>
<object-name>hull</object-name>
<object-name>nosecone</object-name>
<property-base>sim/model/livery</property-base>
<texture-prop>texture-fuselage</texture-prop>
<texture>KLM-Livery-fuselage.png</texture>
</animation>
<animation>
<type>material</type>
<object-name>left-flap</object-name>
<object-name>left-aileron</object-name>
<property-base>sim/model/livery</property-base>
<texture-prop>texture-wings</texture-prop>
<texture>KLM-Livery-wings.png</texture>
</animation>
<!-- ... -->
Note that the texture-prop in both animations are different. They should match the tags around the textures in your Models/Liveries/ files.
aircraft-set.xml
Is the same as "ordinary" aircraft with just one texture. You will find the content of this file earlier in this article.
Performance Improvements
For livery changing it seems to be important to parent all objects with the same texture. In Blender select all objects and press Ctrl+p to make it parent to the last selected. E.g.: fuselage and doors with the same texture: select at first the doors and then at last the fuselage and press Ctrl+p.
Depending on your model and their object origins, the model can be a mess afterwards. To fix this, you have to reset your objects' origin, having them at a 0 offset in relation to the parent.
- Use ⇧ Shift+c to reset the cursor to scene origin (0,0,0).
- Next, select the parent -> Object -> Transform -> Origin to 3d-cursor.
- Then, with the parent still selected-> ⇧ Shift+g -> Children (to select all children objects).
- Alt+p -> Clear parent and keep transform (to clear the "wrong" parent relationship)
- then keeping all the children selected: Object -> Transform -> Origin to 3d Cursor.
- Then with the children still selected, shift select the parent, Ctrl+p -> Object (to re-parent them).
Do not parent glass and/or other transparent objects to the main parent. Also, if using different effects on different objects, those with a different effect cannot be parented to the main parent (they will have their effect overwritten by the parent's)
Also prevent transparency where possible — it will prevent lags while switching the views. Also see the F-14B as a very good example!
Testing
You can use the livery selection dialog to test if your livery is correctly displayed.
If you want to ensure that your livery setup works correctly over multiplayer, you can start two instances of FlightGear locally. See Howto:Multiplayer § Local setup for testing for details.
Sharing your liveries
Of course you want other people to use and enjoy your liveries as much as you do. Therefore, other users should be able to download them.
We have some FlightGear hosts, where you can upload your liveries to:
- FlightGear Liveries — largest FG repository with (almost) all available liveries, based on real aircraft
- UnitedFreeWorld — repository with lots of liveries (and scenery/aircraft), both realistic and fictional
Related content
Wiki articles
Source code
- fgdata/Nasal/aircraft.nas (line 491)